Stars Plan MIPCOM Promotions

In another sign of the strong international sales climate and the growing number of actors and directors from the theatrical film industry that are involved in TV projects, distributors are planning to bring a slew of top talent to MIPCOM 2011. Those making the trip to Cannes include actors and creators from such shows as ABC's Missing, AMC's Hell on Wheels, and TV Land's Happily Divorced.

ABC Studios, for example, will be holding a MIPCOM World Premiere Television Screening of its new TV series Missing in the Palais des Festivals' Grand Auditorium and bringing a number of cast members from the show to Cannes. These include Ashley Judd, who portrays a mother and former CIA agent moving across Europe to rescue her kidnapped son, Cliff Curtis and Adriano Giannini. The creator and executive producer of Missing, Gregory Poirier, and executive producers Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo will also be making the trip.

Also at the Market, Anne Sweeney, Disney/ABC Television Group president and Disney Media Networks co-chair will receive the MIPCOM 2011 Personality of the Year award.

Prominent film directors attending the market include Paul Verhoeven, the Dutch director of major blockbusters Robocop, Basic Instinct, Total Recall and Starship Troopers, who will be promoting FCCE's The Entertainment Experience, a multi-platform format based on a user-generated movie and German filmmaker Werner Herzog, who will be presenting his documentary film on U.S. death row convicts, Into The Abyss - A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life from ZDF Enterprises.

Stars from U.S. cable shows travelling to Cannes include Eddie Izzard, who will be there to promote his appearance in RHI Entertainment's adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which will premiere in the U.S. on Syfy.

Cast members of Entertainment One and Endemol's new western show Hell On Wheels, which will bow in November on AMC in the U.S., expected at MIPCOM include Anson Mount, Grammy Award-winning hip hop artist and actor Common, Dominique McElligott and Colm Meaney.

Also on the cable front, Endemol is also bringing Fran Drescher, writer, producer and star of the TV Land sitcom Happily Divorced and the show's co-writer and executive producer Peter Marc Jacobson.

Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band's guitar player and singer Stevie van Zandt will be at the market promotion his new ‘dramedy' mafia series Lilyhammer, which is produced by Rubicon and distributed by SevenOne International.

Stand-up comedian Margaret Cho will visit as part of the promotion of her new concert film release Cho Dependent, which is being sold internationally by Beyond Distribution.

A number of stars and talent from Europe will also be at the confab. To help its sales of Death in Paradise, BBC Worldwide will be bringing cast members Ben Miller and Sara Martins and executive producer Anthony Jordan of Red Planet Pictures.

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